Microsoft is trying hard to work within the regulations that are
in effect in Europe concerning its products. The big issue in Europe
and other countries like the U.S. is that Microsoft competitors claim
that it is anticompetitive to bundle IE and other software from
Microsoft with Windows.

Microsoft had to pay a record fine in
the EU over bundling Internet Explorer with Windows so it devised a
method of using a ballot box to allow users to choose
what web browser they want to use. Microsoft has also announced
that it will use a similar ballot box in Office 2010.

In the
case of Office 2010, the ballot
box will be used to allow the user to determine what format files
will be saved in. The ballot box will be seen by users the first time
the application runs and will be in effect until the user goes in and
manually changes the setting.

The software giant has offered
no images of the ballot box – beyond Microsoft's own DOC/DOCX files
and the open source ODF format, there is no word on what other
formats will be included in the ballot box. Assuming the EU accepts
the proposal it will be in effect for ten years reports
WindowsITPro.

The Microsoft proposal reads, "Beginning
with Office [2010], end users that purchase Microsoft's Primary PC
Productivity Applications in the [European Economic Area] will be
prompted in an unbiased way to select the default file format for
those applications upon the first boot of any one of them. Microsoft
will also make tools available to enterprises in the EU so that they
can auto-specify which format their users will see when using
Office."